The Star Lit Cat
by SloTurtle
Summary: Fox-paw is a young apprentice who spends much time gazing at the stars, But one day at about sun set, when the first star-clan warriors of silver-pelt are showing, he see's a star fall into his territory. When he finds the star, he realizes it is not a star at all. Join this full hearted apprentice on a journey of friendship, rage, love, and bloodshed.
1. Chapter 1

Foxpaw looked up at the sky and sighed, would he ever get to meet a Starclan cat? He could barely finish that thought when he saw a warrior of Starclan fall out of the sky.

Foxpaw rushed out of camp and into the Thunderclan territory. When he got to where he saw the warrior fall, he couldn't believe his eyes, right in front of him was a small she-cat with dark blue fur with white flecks like Silverpelt on a moonless night.

Foxpaw picked the she-cat up and brought her to the medicine cat, Briarlight. She gasped at the sight of the young cat

"Where did you find her?"

Foxpaw shrugged, he didn't want to tell her that he was slacking off when he was supposed to be helping with the elders' bedding

"Go and get Bramblestar at once"

Briarlight ordered him while she dragged herself to the unconscious cat on the floor. Once Bramblestar got this terrible news, he rushed into the medicine den and leaned over the she-cat

"What is happening?"

an old voice croaked from the back of the den

"Nothing, go back to your nest and rest Jayfeather"

Briarlight stroked the elder medicine cat's shoulder with her tail. Jayfeather was in the medicine den because he refused to accept that he was getting old, also he didn't want to be in the same den as the great snoring Cinderpelt

"She is as loud as a badger!"

he would mumble. Suddenly, the she-cat's nose and tail twitched, a few heart-beats later she shot up and looked around confused. She leaped on Bramblestar and demanded to know where she

was "Your… in … Thunderclan!" he managed to gasp out as he was being crushed by the dainty but strong cat above him "Oh" she stepped off him casually and sat down to groom her ears

"Who are you?"

Briarlight pondered as she examined the young cat

"I am Star" she said, her voice muffled by her fur

"Star? What kind of name is that?"

Goosepaw said as he carried in some moss from the great oak "It represents where I came from" Star growled slightly at the tom

"Well, I think it's a beautiful name" Foxpaw whispered to the she-cat

"Thank you" Star bowed her head in respect to the slightly younger apprentice

"Where _did___you come from?"

Bramblestar said, shaking the dust and herb clippings off his brownish-grey tabby pelt

"I don't know" Star's eyes darkened and were filled with blank memory

"Come with me, Star"

He swept her towards the exit of the den and she followed to his den

"What was _that_ about?" Goosepaw prompted Foxpaw, his litter-mate, into talking

"I saw her in a hole where I think a star fell…"

Foxpaw trailed off as Briarlight shooed him off to do his apprentice duties and then go to sleep.

Foxpaw felt a paw prodding him awake and saw Firepaw blinking above him

"Bramblestar is calling a clan meeting" Firepaw said and padded out of the den to get a rabbit from the fresh-kill pile. Foxpaw blinked sleep out of his eyes and quickly groomed moss out of his pelt and trotted to the clearing outside the den to see what the commotion was about "Yesterday, as most of you know because of clan gossip,"

Bramblestar continued and smiled lightly

"A young cat was found in the forest, she doesn't smell of any other clans than ours, nor does she smell like a kitty-pet or a rouge. So, I have asked her to join our clan as an apprentice."

His announcement was greeted with surprised gasps and whispers "Star, please step forward and greet your newfound clan" Bramblestar said nodding

towards a hole in the crowd and the she-cat stepped through to the front of the clan

"I, Bramblestar, Leader of Thunderclan, say this in front of Starclan and my clanmates and hope for your approval."

Bramblestar paused and rested his gaze on the cats gathered in the camp "Star, do you promise

to be loyal and do all the duties asked of you by your mentor?" "Yes" Star's voice

rang out confidently and strongly

"Then I say your apprentice name! Star, you will be known as Starpaw from now on until your

warrior ceremony…. And Hollyleaf will be your mentor!" Bramblestar said the warrior's

name clearly, the camp was filled with silence, then Hollyleaf padded up to the new apprentice and touched noses with her "I am honored to be a mentor for one last time Bramblestar." She said,

then turned to Starpaw and whispered "I may be really old, but I believe that I will make you the

best warrior you can be."

Her comment was followed with a raspy mrrow of laughter.

Hollyleaf started Starpaw's training almost immediately after they toured the territory. Starpaw was tired and could feel claws of fatigue scraping at her bones after the long walk, but the excitement from being made an apprentice gave her an emergency supply of energy for the so called "Battle training" that Hollyleaf was giving her.

Holly-leaf had made her start her training by gathering moss for the elders and cleaning out the nursery, Starpaw didn't mind though, as long as she was helping her new clan.

When Starpaw finished with her duties, she walked sluggishly toward the apprentice den

"Hey! Starpaw!" Foxpaw hollered to her from the fresh-kill pile

"What?" Starpaw mumbled as she went to sit next to her clan-mate

"Aren't you going to eat?" Foxpaw said, pushing a plump vole over to her

"Er… Yeah, Thanks" She meowed between mouthfuls of prey as Foxpaw settled down next to her to eat.

Starpaw woke bright and early before her mentor could get the chance to wake up and arouse her out of her nest. It was three sunrises after her apprentice ceremony and fresh new energy pulsed through her

"Hey!" Goosepaw snapped at her "Watch out! And stop treading on cats' tails!" He growled grumpily as he set his head back in his nest

"Right, sorry Goosepaw" Starpaw hastily apologized as she picked her way around the crowded den to the entrance.

When she got out in the clearing, she saw Mumblingstone near the front of the Elders' den, grooming his mottled grey tabby pelt. Starpaw padded up to the old cat "Good morning Mumblingstone" She mewed cheerfully "What, exactly do you mean?" He gave a quizzing look to the confused apprentice

"Uh… what?" Starpaw's cheerfulness was out the door in a minute and she thought this old cat must be crazier than she had first thought he was

"Do you mean that you wish me a good morning, or this is a morning to be particularly good on? Maybe you believe that this very morning on its own is precisely good, Or perhaps you mean to wish me a good morning whether I want it or not?"

Mumblingstone's eyes were narrowed as he waited for the apprentice to answer "All, at once I suppose" Starpaw said while her head continued to spin after the very confusing conversation. Mumblingstone nodded in approval as Starpaw walked away to grab something from the fresh-kill pile.

The ferns at the entrance of the warriors den rustled, while Starpaw was finishing off the last morsel of mouse, one of the newest warriors stepped into the open.

Bubblepelt strutted to her friend, her bright, bright, shade of grey pelt gleamed in the rising sun's light "Hello Starpaw" Bubblepelt said

"Hi, Bubblepelt. You look very well groomed today" Starpaw flicked a piece of moss onto her pelt "Hey! I worked forever to get my pelt clean!" She bowled Starpaw over playfully and batted at her ears softly "Get off you Big, Over Sized Kit!" Starpaw heaved upward and

Bubblepelt rolled off of her "Well, anywho!" She continued laughing for a few heartbeats

"How was your training yesterday, Starpaw?" Bubblepelt began to clean the dirt and debris off her fur

"I think it went well, but I'm not so sure about Hollyleaf." Starpaw grumbled as she picked a

sharp twig from in between her toes "What's that supposed to mean?" Bubblepelt immediately took to defending her friend's warrior skills "It's nothing, I just can't get a move right" She stood up and walked up to her mentor, who was just exiting the elders' den "Why were you in there?"

Starpaw said worriedly as she sniffed at her mentor for illness "I was just visiting

Lionblaze. He isn't feeling well" This time, it was Hollyleaf who seemed worried.

She padded through the thorn tunnel and signaled for her apprentice to follow.

Starpaw could scent grief and death on her mentor's coat as they walked to the training area.

Hollyleaf stopped in the middle of the path, where Starpaw almost had a head on collision with her hindquarters "Hey! What in great Starclan made you stop!?" She said as she walked up

Hollyleaf "I'm sorry, but we're going to hunt today" Hollyleaf flicked her tail to the left where an old oak with gnarled roots was.

Starpaw nodded and scanned the area for prey _remember to look, listen, and scent_ she told herself. She spotted a thrush pecking at the rotting roots of the oak tree.

Her muscles tensed, she was about to leap. When she smells something unusual, an odd and very

smell. Starpaw crept up the roots of the tree, forgetting the thrush, and sniffed the air.

This smell wasn't completely new to her, she had smelled it before, but not in this forest.

Starpaw's head shot up as she located where the smell was coming from.

She slowly and easily turned her head to glance at where her mentor was stalking a blackbird, a large shadow looming over her.

Starpaw was extremely surprised that Hollyleaf did not noticed the giant beast behind her, but was terrified at the same time of what might happen to her. The moment came for her to react. Starpaw leapt on the badger, claws and teeth slashing and biting

"BACK AWAY! MANGEPELT!" Starpaw Screeched at it as she clung to its head. The badger lumbered around slashing at the cat on its' face, Hollyleaf standing back a little bit in shock.

And in that sudden moment of fear and excitement, Hollyleaf was struck. She was batted aside by the giant badger's paw and went flying against the oak tree with an aweful thud.


	2. Chapter 2

Starpaw screeched in utter rage and leapt at the badger's throat, clawing and scratching. After a few heart beats, the badger started to run away, but she cut its' path off and continued to bring it down.

The badger fell to the ground and she kept on fighting it, attacking its' weak spots. Finally, the badger stopped moving completely except for the shallow wheezing and the slow rise and fall of its' flank.

Starpaw stood over the beast, badger blood seeping through her toes and soaking into her paw fur. She hopped off and sprinted to her mentor's side "Hollyleaf!? Can you hear me? Are you okay?" She said in a panicked voice.

She slowly and gently picked up her mentor's broken body and headed to camp, leaving to badger to the will of Starclan.

When she got to camp, every cat looked at her bloodied paws and motionless mentor in horror "What happened? Are you hurt?" Foxpaw hurriedly mewed to her "I'm fine. Get Brightheart. NOW!" Starpaw's voice still sounded loud even with Hollyleaf's scruff in between her teeth.

Brightheart was ready for her when she entered the medicine den "Lay her here" She pointed her tail to a small nest made of moss and bracken. Starpaw did so and started to settle next to her mentor when Brightheart spoke up "No, You should leave" Starpaw was about to meow in protest when she added "You've done as much as you already can."

Starpaw saw wisdom in the old shecat's words and padded into the clearing. It was crowded with nearly every cat in camp "What happened!?" Some cat said "Did you attack Hollyleaf?" Another yowled an accusation "I smell badger!" A queen said worriedly.

"Every cat, Please, Please. Let Starpaw speak" Bramblestar said as he motioned the apprentice up to great rock "Hollyleaf took me out hunting. And we split up, only enough to see each other, so we could hunt better. I Thought I scented something strange, but I discarded it since Hollyleaf said nothing." Her voice started to crack in sadness

"Then, I turned to her and saw a shadow loom over her. She must have been too concentrated on her prey, because she didn't do anything but keep hunting. The badger was about to attack her, but I leapt on it before it could grab her in its' jaws. The badger swung around and hit Hollyleaf against a tree."

She paused and rested her gaze on Lionblaze, standing outside of the elders' den "I killed the badger" Starpaw said trying not to sound as afraid as she did "I doupt it!" Greyfang growled at her "I bet she is making it all up!" A few murmurs of agreement spread across camp

"But I'm not making it up!" She whimpered in protest "Go in the forest, follow our scent trail, and see the badgers body for yourself!"

Starpaw flicked her tail to the bramble tunnel "That's exactly what we are going to do. Just to see if it is completely dead." Bramblestar said, resting his tail on her shoulder comfortingly.

A patrol left to go in search of the badger body at sunhigh and came back at near dusk

"There was a badger all right. But it didn't look like it came across a measly apprentice and an over aged mentor." Berrynose said "It looked like it came across all the Clans and Tribes there have ever been. There were thousands of scratches and bites on its' neck." He continued

"It had quite a painful death." "Well, is there anything else? Any proof that Starpaw killed it?" Greyfang asked

"Yes actually, her scent was all over its' wounds, and it had some of her fur snagged in a claw." Berrynose look triumphantly at the younger warrior as he walked away, mumbling.

Starpaw watched the medicine den like a hawk about to swoop on prey. Brighheart came out and dragged herself straight to the leaders den. She ran to search for Dovewing to tell her what was happening "She says that 'Hollyleaf has a badly injured rib and that she has the smallest vole hair of a chance that she will live, but she would be certainly dead if it weren't for you'" Dovewing said as she ate her thrush "Ok, Thanks" Starpaw said, walking to the medicine den to see her mentor, for perhaps the very, last time…


End file.
